


Means Of Escape

by wasthatafanfic



Series: Disclosed Secrets AU [2]
Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Game: Resident Evil Zero, Good!Wesker, Rebecca and Billy mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-11-05 20:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17925749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wasthatafanfic/pseuds/wasthatafanfic
Summary: After turning down involvement in the reclamation of the management training facility Wesker receives a frantic phone call from William regarding the Ecliptic Express.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to do something for what RE0 was like with Wesker finding out about everything second hand  
> *Title is from the remaster soundtrack #65

The shrill scream of the telephone tore Wesker from the unsteady sleep he'd finally managed to sink into amid a sea of paperwork and planning, the flustered muttering he was greeted with when he lifted the receiver did even less and he cut the self talk short.

"Why are you calling me at this god forsaken hour William?"

"Because it doesn't make sense!"

Wesker was used to being brought into conversation in-medias-res by now (having known the man for near on a decade now and counting him as his best, probably only friend) as the frantic scientist caught up to the fact he had an audience.

"What doesn’t make sense William?"

"It just- how was the T-virus leaked? And how did the contamination spread from the labs, to the research facility, and now the train over three miles away?"

"The Ecliptic? What’s happened?"

He could hear the exhaustion in Williams voice as he fully came back to reality.

"The Engineer has hit the bio-hazard panic button, we haven't been able to make contact since. How could this happen Albert? Could something have slipped past the lock-down?"

The lab and the training facility were one thing, easily explained away as carelessness and mismanagement, and while it was _possible_  for the virus to somehow leak despite the lock-down, an escaped test subject perhaps wandering the woods and happening upon the commuter train, there had been those missing hikers after all, but all of it together it felt too _orchestrated_.  But the leak itself already left them with their hands full, no need to add stress over unfounded theories of possible sabotage.

"It's…At this point the how is irrelevant, Have you sent a cleanup team?"

"Yes, they're a half hour out, once they're on they'll handle it at the closest branch line."

"I assume you'll have the train destroyed?"

"Oh yes completely. we can't have knowledge of this getting out."

A simple but effective solution, hopefully it would take care of the issue with the missing hikers as well.

"Good, it sounds like you have everything well in hand. I'll leave you to it, do keep me updated."

The phone settled into it's cradle with a light click and he buried his face in his hands. This had been a trying week to start with, what with him backing out of the training center reclamation project (which William still hadn't completely forgiven him for) and the ongoing argument with his superiors  that too much time and too many resources had been sunk into the STARS team to waste it on simple data collection and was currently surrounded by a mess of notes and papers proving, sometimes fabricating his point and it seemed to be working so far but this new outbreak would only add to the struggle.

Rain was starting to patter softly against the window, the gentle sound belied the ferocity of the coming summer storm. He had to trust Birkin had everything in hand and try to get some more much needed sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some important questions

He hadn't made it back to his bed, instead collapsing back into unconsciousness on the couch. He was now somewhat glad of it because it meant he hadn't had to do more then stretch to the side table when the phone again rang.

"You'd tell me right?"

He blinked groggily at the phone for a moment in confusion at the contextless greeting.

"What?"

"If you were backing out early, you'd have let me in on it wouldn't you?"

"Are you asking if I caused this?"

"Yes, yes I am."

The frustrated groan was answer enough and William tsked.

"Don't give me that, you can't blame me. Patient, subtle, devastating. You're really going to try and tell me this wouldn't be your style? Apart from staying around to see the results you're too smart for that nonsense"

It was true, or had been at one point.

"Alright, I'll admit to that much. A few years ago I probably would have, if I'd thought of it."

"But not now? What, couldn't bring yourself to do it? "

"No, no I don't think I could. "

"Heh. You're losing your edge."

Williams tone was teasing and oddly light given the situation. Meaning the call was more a distraction while he waited for an update instead of actual concern his friend was the theoretic saboteur.

"I think that's one edge I want to lose"

He heard a laugh but no added commentary and a sigh quickly followed.

"God this is such a mess. We were supposed to be at Arklay labs you know. But Annette, she knows how close we are, how distracted I've been. If she hadn't noticed, hadn't agreed when I insisted we keep working on that final synthesis breakdown…"

He trailed off, Albert could picture the distant unseeing stare that must be fixed on the monitor bank as just how narrowly they'd avoided the fates of their shambling, rotting coworkers as he sat deep in the heart of their tomb.

"William."

He heard Birkin startle, coming back to himself.

"I-yeah, I'm here. I'm just…tired…"

Albert frowned.

"When was the last time you went home William?"

Silence, long enough to be concerning.

"Just the other day. Yeah I'm sure it was only -couldn't have been more then that-"

He didn't sound especially sure, and Wesker suspected it had probably been a week or more.

"It's fine. Annette was just there, just checked on Sherry, said she's doing okay. The sooner we finish G the sooner this can all be over and she wont have to be just ok. I don't know how we got so lucky, ending up with such a tough kid. She's so self sufficient, barely even needs us… "

A burst of static cut him off, not on the phone line though, sounded like it was from the radio.

"Wait, they're reporting in."

Distant and tinny he could hear one of the soldiers report in.

"We're deploying now, over."

"How far are you from the closest branch line? Over."

"No more than ten minutes, probably-"

There was the strange sound of comms feedback filtered through a phone line

"What is- Albert I'll call you back."

The last thing he heard before the line dropped was the distant but distinct sound of panicked screams and muted gunfire.

Something had gone wrong.

And the only thing he could do was wait to find out what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Poor sleep deprived William, just trying to keep his shit together by bothering his best friend on the phone while he waits for news on just how bad things are.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derailment in more ways then one.

The phone barely had the chance to ring before he'd snapped it up, anxiety hidden under his preferred veneer of cold disinterest.

"Hello William, has the train been destroyed?"

"Oh yes, it's been destroyed. But not by us."

That was not the update he'd been hoping for.

"By who then? And what happened with the clean up crew?"

"Dead. I'm not sure what it was but something attacked them, and from what I heard through their comm's they didn't have a chance. As for our Locomotive Levelers I don't know them. They've ended up at the training center and what I've seen of them on the camera's they don’t seem to know what's going on, more like they've stumbled into things. One seems oddly familiar though."

There was a distant sound of keyboard clicks as that Wesker assumed was William trying to zoom in or get a better angle.

"A man and a woman,  the young man is tallish, dark slicked back hair, longer then yours, pseudo tribal tattoo's on one arm…looks like …i think a handcuff? On one wrist."

Doubtful to be a fashion statement so probably not a mercenary or spy, but nothing that struck recognition.

"Him I don't know, what about the other one?"

More clicking.

"Short hair, tactical gear, not military though…medical maybe? She looks like a kid. I swear if she was shorter I'd think she was Sherry's age."

Wesker snorted, William had no real concept of ages below early adulthood. But then the rest of the details sunk in and his stomach plummeted.

"Rebecca Chambers-"

An amused huff escaped Will.

"I knew I recognized her, looks different from that  photo of yours." The STARS team photo, taken just after Rebecca had joined, was quiet literally the only framed photo to grace his personal residence, perched not far from where the man sat now. " Can almost make out the STARS patch, now that I know to look."

"What of the rest of Bravo team?"

Click Click Click Click. The sound of William rapidly switching through the available security feeds searching for familiar gear.

"I see no one with a pulse, just carriers on every screen. And none of those that look even vaguely like they could be STARS."

"She's only a rookie, she shouldn't be on her own and none of them should be anywhere near that area, why wou-"

His initial refusal notice sat staring at him from the coffee table, shortly followed by a far less polite threat and promise of bribery to the police chief if he ignored Umbrellas orders.

"That _bastard_  - Irons sent Bravo team out against my express orders. I swear I'm going to gut that man."

A few more clicks, switching views back to Rebecca no doubt.

"Well your rookie just completely destroyed a commuter train by crashing it into the depot and looks to be making her way to the training facility, so I wouldn't be too worried about her if I were you. As for Iron's I'll gut him for you, mans completely useless. What's the point of having a corrupt official in your pocket when they don't do what they're told? With any luck she's the only one who ended up on the Eclipse. The rest are probably wandering the woods looking for her."

Or being devoured by the experiments that had been attacking hikers recently, the same ones that he'd been working so hard to keep them from facing, but worrying worst case scenarios wouldn't help anyone.

"Yes, yes I'm  sure you're right. I have to consider how best to proceed from here."

"Of course, I'll keep an eye on your pet medic, hopefully she and her mystery friend won't go opening any wrong doors."

...

"Pet medic?"

William at least made a cursory effort to muffle his laughter, unsuccessful as it was.

"Oh come on, I've heard you talk about her.  She the youngest ever accepted into STARS, you've mentioned almost everyone on the team doting on her at some point or other at least once, and honestly her and Sherry are the only people I've ever heard you speak of with what could be referred to as _affection_."

Wesker balked, and the pause as he proceeded the accusation was just enough for Will to shift onto a new topic.

"Oh, they've found the old maintenance hatch to the main lobby... God I hate that portrait."

The younger researcher didn't have to elaborate on what portrait he meant. The late Dr. Marcus' visage glaring down from the landing of the grand staircase had haunted him for many years now, no matter how he tried to cast it out of his mind.

His first, albeit failed, attempt at rebellious subversion against Umbrella.

"Attention! This is Dr. Marcus."

They both jumped, he could hear William fumbling to not completely drop the phone as the voice of a man a decade dead rang through the facility. A recording neither man had heard since their own time there as students.

"Please be silent as we reflect upon our company motto."

"Sure as hell don't miss that." William muttered as the recording droned on. "I can't believe that's still active after all these years. I wonder what activated i- wait - who the hell?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * William and Wesker are actual friends for real in this AU versus in canon where in the novel William repeatedly thought of Wesker as a psychopath
> 
> * Because they have an actual friendship while Will isn't quiet as panicked about whats happening as he is in canon, hence his lighter tone even though he's alone dealing with things this time around.
> 
> *'Wesker Mode' from zero and the basketball picture in 2 made me feel like if Wesker was a less evil person he'd have a soft spot for Rebecca, and thus my less evil Wesker does.
> 
> *No bonus points for guessing who Williams talking about at the end cause that bit is just following canon


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor life choices come back to bite Wesker in the ass

Dr. James Marcus' death had been an odd experience.

There was a decade separating Albert and what he considered his first true failure. Dr. Marcus' ambition had finally outgrown his usefulness,  Spencer had made the decision to 'relieve him of his research obligations', and handing control over to himself and Birkin. A bone for his pet project to play with perhaps, or some subtle test to prove his worth.

He could still remember being handed the order, the displeasure on  Spencer's face when he'd  raised concerns.

Wesker wasn't especially fond of the man. While it was true Dr. Marcus had been his and Birkin's mentor (And in some bizarre way seemed to have a soft spot for them, even as he attempted to pit them against each other) The aging scientist was just as much an ego driven madman as the rest of those in Umbrella's employ. Topped off with his even more impressive sense of entitlement from being one of the companies founders, as well as a personal grudge for his involvement in project W. But he'd had four years of introspection that had steadily made him more and more uncomfortable with many of the more sordid parts of their job.

But with each concern raised; that even if Marcus was conspiring to try and oust Spencer as CEO he didn't have any real hope of doing so, that he had so far been the driving force in the t-virus' development and it was unwise to off the golden goose, that the mans disappearance would not go unnoticed and surely suspicion would fall on 'his lordship' (Wesker had to resist choking on the words) endangering the companies standing, Spencer's displeasure had begun to turn dangerously close to suspicion, and he couldn't risk tipping his hand.

He needed time, a lot more time. Enough to bleed Umbrella dry and burn it down on the way out, and Marcus' life against his own objectives, well it wasn't hard to guess which way those scales tipped.

So he'd dropped all argument and strode into the familiar labs on the heels of the special forces soldiers as they filled the air with gunfire.

It wasn't the first nor last time he'd witnessed a mans death, but it was the first time he'd felt the inklings of guilt gnawing at his guts.

The first time he'd looked away.

And as William gloated over being the one to take of the dying man's research, which Albert honestly thought was well deserved, he found he couldn't quite muster the same level of enthusiasm when faced with Marcus's stunned, dying eyes as he weakly called to them in confusion.

"Time to rest, doctor."

* * *

 "What are we going to do?"

Williams voice broke through his reveries and Albert came back to the present. This man, whether he truly was James Marcus back from the dead, a relative, or some impostor, it didn't really matter.

Hell it didn't even matter whether he had actually started the viral leaks or not, they'd happened, and regardless of who he was he most decidedly knew what had really happened in that la all those years ago.

There was some comfort in the knowledge that if the old conspiracy against Dr. Marcus _was_  revealed Mr. Spencer's career would be over… but so would theirs.

There was nothing for it, his plans would simply have to be moved up a few years. A shame really, he'd actually been enjoying his work with STARS and had become surprisingly fond of them. Though because of that fondness he had no intention of leaving them to their fates.

"I will simply say goodbye to Umbrella. The only remaining task is to acquire combat data, and that will serve as the perfect opening to retrieve the data that _I_  need as well as retrieve Bravo team. You should seriously consider doing the same."

He expected the dismissive noise that answered him.

"Tsh, You can't seriously think I'd abandon my work, when I'm this close to finishing G? Not to mention it being my families ticket to safety once this is all over."

He rubbed at the rising ache from behind his eyes, William's obsessiveness with his work was even more all consuming then his own, there would be no talking him out of this.

"Do as you wish, I will simply implement my initial plan a bit earlier than intended."

"That's fine, and a bit of good news for you, I've found more of your Bravo team and it looks like they've made their way from the training facility and are headed to the mansion, that'll make things at least a bit easier on you I expect."

That _was_  fortunate, he may be able to save more of his men then he thought.

"Their superior combat training should serve them well in surviving until I can get Alpha team there for an evac. How many?"

"I count four, once your medic and her plus-one get out it'll be five." He hummed as he considered something Wesker couldn't see. "In the meantime, something must be done about this madman. As I recall, URC should be equipped with a self-destruct device. Once your medic is near enough escape I'll set the countdown and come morning the place will be nothing but a pile of rubble."

* * *

The pleasant trill of the telephone roused Barry Burton from a deep, peaceful sleep. A bleary, sleep heavy mutter from his wife was answered with a gentle touch to let her know he would take care of it as he hauled himself out of bed to see who could be calling at this hour.

A cheerful, if tired greeting was met with less than pleasant news.

"You can't be serious."

"Unfortunately I am, Things have gone rather out of control and I doubt they'll be getting much better. Kathy, Moira, and Polly should leave town as soon as possible."

They'd been preparing for this, it was sooner then either had expected but not so soon Barry wasn't prepared, they would be gone before the new day was over.

"We need to tell the others, they need to know what we're getting into."

Silence as Wesker turned over his words.

"It's too risky. You know how dangerous Umbrella is, the lengths they're willing to go to for what they want. How easy would it have been to control you if I'd actually used the intel they gave me? There's too much of a chance that I wasn't the only one they inserted into the team, or that they chose to blackmail. It's dangerous enough what we're going into if there was a true traitor that I didn't know about-"

"Okay! Okay, I get it. I still think you're wrong but… I'll keep my mouth shut. But once this is over you need to tell them everything, got it?"

A heavy sigh.

"Yes, yes of course. But right now, Bravo team's survival is the priority. We have a long night ahead of us."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Got a little Barry cameo in there, after William and Annette Barry is the closest thing Albert has to a confidant and only for like a month or so.
> 
> *Wesker was enjoying working wtih STARS enough that his original escape plan had him quietly disappearing in a few years after he'd quietly slid incriminating evidence over regarding Umbrella and securing transfers for the teams to positions and locations they didn't directly control.


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oswald Spencer Inbox File

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the part that if it was a different kind of game you'd see the little * Spencer will remember this* notification

Sender: Sergei Vladimir

Lord Spencer,

I regret to inform you that as of early this morning we have lost the executive training facility, The scientist William Birkin assigned to it's reclamation set off the self destruct mechanism claiming it was the only way to contain the outbreak. Though intel suggests he spent most of the night in contact with Albert Wesker and his involvement may have also been a leading factory.

Your doubts regarding comrade Wesker's loyalty may not have been unfounded.

* * *

Sender: Oswald Spencer

How regrettable,

We will simply have to move on to the contingency plan. Congratulations Sergei you're being promoted. For now continue your observations I will contact you shortly with further instructions.

* * *

Sender: Sergei Vladimir

As you wish, Lord Spencer.

All glory to Umbrella.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Its amazing how little of the overarching plot I can keep the same if I just keep Sergei alive to take Wesker's place

**Author's Note:**

> I live for comments, questions, and any feedback you might want to leave so don't hesitate I wanna know what you think,  
> And if you've got ideas or stuff you want to see I wanna hear that too!  
> [And feel free to ask me about my AU over at my tumblr](http://buttons-n-bobbin.tumblr.com/)


End file.
